Project VandeGrijp

VandeGrijp specializes in the construction of pipes and pipe structures and the rental of piping systems and floating equipment for the infrastructure market. The headquarters of VandeGrijp is located in Papendrecht, where we visited Rob Stikkelorum, the former director of VandeGrijp. Rob Stikkelorum was instrumental in setting up the logistics by acquiring and implementing Merkato and ISAH. Martijn de Jong, production planner at VandeGrijp, handled the entire implementation of the configurator.

Rob Stikkelorum has not been the director of VandeGrijp since January 1, but he still makes weekly visits to finalize the logistics setup. Why did they involve Merkato in their company?

“You choose one of our products, you get the timings, and a price comes out immediately.”

“Many companies work with standard products or components, but we operate via a cost pricing method,” says Rob Stikkelorum. “We work 100% customer-specific and therefore can’t configure with components as other companies can. We fully build the customer-specific product according to the customer’s wishes, where Merkato breaks down standard process steps and operations. These are then linked to processing times. The salesperson thus always ‘configures’ a completely new product but immediately gets the timings, and a price is also generated instantly.

We acquired Merkato for a different reason than most other Quootz customers. For us, it was mainly about calculating. Before we started using Merkato, we had a variety of Excel sheets spread throughout the company. These definitely needed more structure.”

“At VandeGrijp, we also now work with a new ERP system. All ERP packages are designed to control the logistic functions within a company and can do everything, but they are not specialists when it comes to configuration, calculation, and efficiently sending out quotes. Merkato is. Merkato is much more to-the-point. Merkato ensures quality and saves time.”

“The purchase of Merkato was made in September 2013, and we immediately started with the training and implementation. The building took three or four months with an effective allocation of one day per week. This ran parallel to the implementation of the new ERP package, which we also acquired during the same period. The first phase of the implementation ended in January. Then came the testing phase, and we have been using it since the end of April. It has actually gone quickly and is still quite fresh. We were able to test Merkato completely on its own. For us, it was exciting because we were mainly calculating the cost price within Merkato. Since the end of April, we have been working with Merkato within VandeGrijp. It is now mainly the ‘acclimatization phase’ within the organization, for the company and with the customers.”

“That’s exactly how it should go. That’s how it should be.”

“Decisive in the purchase was that I found Merkato to be pleasantly simple. You don’t need to have substantive knowledge. Martijn, who handled the implementation, had a morning’s training from Bas. Together they already built part of the model. Prior to the project, we made a design of the model we ultimately wanted to configure. We had written down all the ins and outs for ourselves, so Martijn was able to get started after a few hours. We designed the calculation model ourselves because that’s our thing, our product, our process. Martijn regularly contacted Quootz via Skype or email when he had a technical problem or was stuck. That’s exactly how it should go, in my opinion. That’s how it should be.”

“If you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, sometimes you may need to choose a slightly different path along the way, but that has always been possible. What is very pleasant is that you can discuss well with both Christiaan and Bas. They may not fully know the ultimate goal, but they understand where you want to go, and they think along with you in achieving that goal, so if there is a detour they hadn’t entirely anticipated, you don’t hear a sigh; they are willing to help you. The collaboration has been and is very positive.”

“Quootz, being a relatively ‘young company in the market,’ is open to customer wishes, and this is very positive”

“The choice for Quootz went as follows. I found Quootz on the internet. I knew another sales configuration company, but I thought there must be more. A number of companies came up when I searched for them, including Quootz. We had Quootz and another company come by, about a year ago. Quootz was very direct, immediately thought in solutions, and didn’t make a fuss about anything. I’m also direct, don’t think too complicatedly, and want to achieve my goal. I had a good feeling with Quootz. Although they are a serious provider, they carry something small and personal with them, not like the other providers, and that also made a difference.

Bas gave the impression that he was eager to help us. My experience is that if the software provider allows you as a customer to occasionally stray from the path, whereby the company might sometimes have to develop something in their software because we need it, then the collaboration will work. With Quootz, this would be possible; with the other company, it wouldn’t. Quootz, as a relatively ‘young company in the market,’ is open to customer wishes, and this is very positive. That’s the main reason. In addition, the ratio between the price and what is offered was quite reasonable for me.”

“A bit more flair and appearance would be welcome”

“There are certainly also points for improvement with Merkato,” continues Rob. “Merkato is very much to-the-point. The user interface is quite bare, and in my opinion, they could tinker with it a bit more. It’s all very business-like, functional, and to-the-point; there are no unnecessary frills, but a bit more dressing and appearance would be welcome.”

“You get a lot of functionality for the price you pay, but the appearance also brings emotion with it. And that’s a bit lacking now. It’s comparable to a ‘bare, trained top athlete,’ but that’s not always how it’s used. I should note that there are indeed opportunities in the system to make it all a bit more ‘dressed up,’ but we haven’t yet put energy into that.”

“We do a lot more in much less time, and also better work”

“Merkato has saved us a lot of time. We now have 80% of our product pallet in Merkato and are already freeing up many man-hours. Time that can be spent on other things. The quality of the calculations has also increased enormously. Deviations are adjusted directly in the system, so we are also continuously improving. So we do a lot more in much less time, and also better work. As a result, the leverage of the investment is just ridiculously large.

Merkato is a very important link in the process further handled by ISAH. Quootz, in a relatively short time and together with ISAH, has set up some beautiful connections.

It was a new and exciting system; I had been looking for something similar for fifteen years. It was exciting to commit to a calculation scheme because this was not the method before. Previously, the calculation was done by buyers, sellers, and a head seller who calculated the price. Now we have a basis of rational starting points, and that’s how we’re going to learn the rest of the process from now on.”

“Merkato is a highly recommended product, and you can integrate it in many ways within your company, just like us.”